


Prodigals

by KawaiiBoushi



Category: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, also not actually very shippy mostly just zeke-centric, and to my last one-off, references to kos-mos's sidequest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-29
Updated: 2018-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-14 14:18:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14137791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KawaiiBoushi/pseuds/KawaiiBoushi
Summary: Zeke, less than excited about his current assignment, muses on the past and the future.





	Prodigals

Following the discovery of the rogue blade bots at the World Tree, it wasn’t until late that evening that the group arrived in Tantal to deliver their report to the king. By the time it had been decided that Astelle would accompany them to Mor Ardain, it was nearing midnight, so the decision to stay at Anastatia’s for the evening was unanimous, though Zeke’s vote had been more of a grunted “whatever.” He was never necessarily enthusiastic to begin with about seeing his father, but this meeting in particular seemed to have fouled his mood significantly.

As Astelle returned to her room in the palace, the Aegis party made their way across the city to the inn. Money wasn’t so tight these days, meaning they could afford to divvy up rooms how they liked, so the group began to split off for the night until only Zeke and Pandoria remained.

The prince had been sitting at a table in the lobby, arms crossed and staring off at nothing, and didn’t seem to notice that everyone else had turned in until Pandoria nudged him. Standing up with a scowl, he approached the counter and slammed down the gold for their room with much more force than was necessary. “One king room,” he told the man at the front desk, voice short.

“Please,” Pandoria added with a pointed look at her prince.

“Absolutely.” Bowing his head, the man slid the gold from the edge of the counter and handed over a key in return. “It’ll be room ten, down the hall and to your left.”

With a grateful smile, Pandoria grabbed Zeke’s hand and tugged him along with her to their room. Once inside, he shrugged off his jacket and yanked his eyepatch from his face, tossing both at a chair in the corner of the room.

“Are you alright, my prince?” Removing her hat and setting it on top of Zeke’s discarded clothing, Pandoria leaned against the wall. “I know you don’t really like coming back to see your dad, but you seem…extra pissed tonight.”

Collapsing onto the bed, Zeke threw his arms in the air. “Oh, no, this is just peachy! I’m stuck babysitting some cousin I didn’t even know existed so that she can go traipsing around Alrest, while we’ve got actual important business to take care of. Yeah, this is _exactly_ how I wanted this little visit to go.”

Pandoria suppressed an eyeroll as she made her way to sit down next to him, making a mental note to tone down the sarcasm. Clearly, she was a bad influence. “Come on, Astelle seems like a nice kid. And she’s not exactly the first young Tantalese to want to go traipsing around Alrest.”

“Exactly!” Slapping the back of one hand into the other palm for emphasis, Zeke turned to her with frustration etched on his face. “And it got me bloody _exiled_! I was fifteen – older than she is, but still a bloody child – still his _son_ – and he threw me out of the country! But now, suddenly, he’s all concerned about poor little Astelle feeling cooped up here, so he sends her off with the whole royal entourage!”

Placing a hand on his knee, Pandoria leaned against her prince with a sigh. “Your dad’s a prick, that’s nothing new. But at least this is a sign he’s starting to change, right? That’s something. I mean, I know it doesn’t do you much good now, but…”

As she trailed off, Zeke let out a grunt, laying a hand over hers. “I should just be glad he’s not banishing any more children, but it’s taken the prospect of the end of the bloody world to get him to think about pulling his head out of his arse. I made my peace with what happened to me years ago, but this still pisses me right off. Just…the principle of the thing, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Pandoria agreed quietly. She twined her fingers around his and brought his knuckles to her lips, unsure of what to stay but still wanting to provide some comfort.

After a contemplative minute, Zeke continued, “We still haven’t had a proper talk since I first came back to Tantal. Well, not unless you count the one where he told me that my entire lineage is based on lies and blackmail.” He grimaced at the memory. “I gave up expecting him to change his mind and drag me back here a long time ago. And if I’ve got a cousin, or niece, or whatever, there must be _someone_ else that could take the throne. I assume that was his plan all along. But now, I don’t know what to think. He’s been…surprisingly cordial for the most part, and he hasn’t stopped any of us coming and going as we need. When all this is over, is it gonna be to the curb with me again, or does he expect me to just come back like nothing happened and pick up where we left off ten years ago?” With a sigh, Zeke flopped onto his back, hands behind his head.

“Well…what do _you_ want?” Laying down on her side next to him, Pandoria placed a hand on his chest, running her thumb in slow circles over the core crystal shard there. She could feel her ether pulsing in time with his heartbeat, slowly returning to a normal rate, and smiled at the calming effect her touch had.

“I don’t know. That’s the thing.” Gesturing aimlessly in the air, he continued, “I don’t suppose I would be against coming back. A guy can only wander the world for so long, y’know? I figured we’d eventually find somewhere to settle down, but that’s kind of been on the back burner since we got caught up in all this saving the world business.”

Pandoria gave a soft laugh. “Yeah, that’s been a little bit of a distraction.”

“Whatever happens next, though, it’s hard to see myself just…going back to gallivanting about Alrest. So much has happened, so much has changed. Hell, I’m not the same person I was when I was banished by a longshot. And to the old man’s credit, ten years out on my own was a long time to learn about the world and its people.” Scoffing, he added, “Not that I’d ever believe that was his intention. But for better or for worse, my experiences since leaving have made me who I am now. And how could I go through all this to save the world only to let Tantal die off anyway? They deserve a shot at Elysium too. I think I could really help turn things around, if I got the chance. If nothing else, they’re going to need someone who can handle international relations. I’m the only Tantalese for that job.”

Nodding, Pandoria continued to absently trail her fingers around the other half of her core. “You’ve grown so much since we left. Even your father has to be able to see that. If he can’t, that’s his loss. It’s _Tantal’s_ loss.” She paused, a blush lightly coloring her cheeks. “And…whether it’s in Tantal or somewhere else, I wouldn’t be against settling down either. I’ve loved adventuring with you all these years, but it would be nice to at least have a consistent home. I won’t say camping has ever been my favorite part of our travels.”

Zeke rolled onto his side to face her, gently brushing his fingers along her cheek. “Wherever you are is home to me, Pandy.”

Blush deepening, Pandoria buried her face in his chest, prompting a chuckle from her prince. “How can you be so mushy with a straight face?”

“Have you even met me?”

Pandoria scooted back a little so she could look up at Zeke with a bashful smile. “That’s fair.” Forcing herself to hold his gaze, she murmured, “I…I feel the same way, though. As long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter to me if we’re living in a palace or out in the woods.”

Zeke pressed a kiss to Pandoria’s jaw, just below her ear, causing her to shiver. “Preferably _not_ the woods though, yeah?” She could only nod in response, and Zeke moved his hand to rest at the curve of her waist. “I don’t know what my father will think about…us. Frankly, I don’t really care. We’re a package deal, you and me. He wants me back, he gets both of us or nothing.”

Affection swelling within her, Pandoria met his lips in a slow kiss. When she pulled back, she asked, “Have you given much more thought to that democracy of yours, then?”

Zeke’s eyes lit up at this. “Yeah, actually!” Excitedly, he sat up, all traces of his earlier anger gone. “We’ve got a ton of royal advisors or whatever, but there’s almost no input from the common folk. We need to give everyone a chance to have their voices heard, and we need to genuinely listen to them. Figure out what people need most, and how best to meet those needs. We’ll need to create positions where those the people trust to represent them can actually get things done – I’ve yet to see any good come out of just one man wielding so much power. It’s going to take years, probably decades, to pull Tantal back from the brink of collapse, but it can be done. We just need to work together to do it, united for each other’s sakes.”

Pandoria sat up and hugged her knees to her chest, listening to Zeke go on with a smile. He was known to quite frequently act on whims, but once he set his mind to something, he never did it halfway. She had never met anyone so passionate in all of Alrest. That, she supposed, was what was most attractive about him.

And where that passion had once been directed at simply taking in the sights of the world, after his banishment Zeke had begun to focus on what he could do to make a difference wherever he went. Before either of them knew it, he had grown into a man far more worthy of power than the one his father had tried to groom him to be. She adored his goofy, playful side as well, but her core crystal quite literally glowed with pride and admiration whenever she caught a glimpse of the caring, mature man she had fallen for. She could travel the world over countless more times and never ask for a better driver, a better partner.

Tantal, she knew, could never ask for a better leader.

           

**Author's Note:**

> Did anyone else do Artificial Intelligence and think, "wow, I bet this feels like a huge slap in the face to Zeke"
> 
> Also I feel like I intended this to get shippier than it did but then I just started getting too deep into Zeke exploration, sorry. I promise I have fluff on the way. 
> 
> Anyway, I dunno how government and stuff ends up working post-game, but I like to think that Zeke would actually end up being a pretty great leader. Having him talk about setting up a democracy started out as just a throwaway line in my other fic, but the more I thought about it the more I actually liked that idea. Especially with him having first-hand experience with both Tantal and Indol, I think he would want to work to prevent any similar situations from happening again in the future.


End file.
